Author: Gary Schwind

Country music has a long tradition of duets. Whoever your favorite country artist is, he or she has probably recorded a duet. J.P. Harris explored the tradition with Why Don’t We Duet in the Road. He explores it even further on the new EP Why Don’t We Duet in the Road (Again). The EP opens […]

photo by Mark McLennan Charley Crockett is a singer-songwriter who carries on a long tradition of Texas musicians that have come before him. He has made a life on the road one way or another ever since he finished high school. By phone from the U.K., he discussed touring, recording his new album The Valley […]

You have to give a lot of credit to musicians who don’t want to be limited to just one genre. On the new album The Lexington Stretch, The Jorgensens accomplish that by playing songs that are some blend of jazz, blues, and soul. The album begins with “If the Sea Was Whiskey”, a classic song […]

When you see pictures of Paul Cauthen wearing a cowboy hat, you would probably assume that he is a country artist. You wouldn’t necessarily be wrong. However on the new album Room 41 (Lightning Rod Records), he shows that he doesn’t fit the mold of Nashville country. “Holy Ghost Fire” kicks off the album and it’s […]

These Wild Plains is a rarity in that it is an Americana rock band from Boston. It is also a rarity because on the new album Thrilled To Be Here (Hall of Champions), the band shows that it can thrive simultaneously in both rock and roll and country. It doesn’t take long to notice that […]

Kendell Marvel is a singer-songwriter who has written songs with or for some of the most popular artists in Nashville including Lee Ann Womack, George Strait, and Chris Stapleton. By phone he discussed his new album produced by Dan Auerbach, the craft of songwriting, and what it meant when a song he co-wrote (“Either Way” […]

A bit of mythology surrounds Kenny Wayne Shepherd, which isn’t hard to believe considering he was only 16 when he began his recording career as a blues-rock guitarist. He’s no longer the wunderkind he was back then, but on the new album The Traveler (Concord Records), he shows that 20 years later, he’s still rocking […]

As music fans, we often like to have our music in neat little packages with labels like folk or rock or whatever the case may be. However, some albums just don’t fit neatly into whatever label you’re tempted to slap on them. Pharmakon by Humbird is one of those nuanced albums that isn’t easily labeled. […]

When you get a new album by Robert Randolph and The Family Band, you know what to expect. Namely Randolph wailing on the pedal steel guitar while the rhythm section gets you moving to the point of being sweaty. You get all of that, and a healthy dose of gospel on the new album Brighter […]

Some artists seem like natural-born storytellers. When you hear the new album The Driveway by Jessi McNeal, you realize that she is one of them. What’s interesting about this album is that while it is an album that leans toward country and folk, there is something about it that is reminiscent of 90s Britpop. For example, […]